This Week in Favs….

Playing on the Zune: Chicken Fried by Zac Brown Band. This is sort of my anthem… my roots are about as southern as they come though I don’t listen to country music all that often. :0)

10) “Gentle Reminders Beat a Slap to the Head: Why Refreshing What You Know is a Good Thing” by Janice Hardy. This particular piece highlights exactly why we surf writing blogs: to learn more about the writing craft. Even though we may know how to create believable characters or how to structure our stories, it doesn’t mean that there still isn’t more out there that we could learn. A writer is forever learning, forever a student, and forever evolving – no matter how long they’ve been writing. Thank you, Janice, for hitting the nail on the head with this one!

9) “The Three Dimensional Character” by Nicole Steinhaus on YA Stands. I enjoyed the breakdown of first, second, and third dimensions that Nicole provided here. It’s like peeling an onion – the first layer is the surface traits, the second layer is the ‘why’ of the character, and the third is where you find their heart. This is a post that will get you thinking about those characters you love so much and how to turn them real people for your readers.

8) “Emo MCs” by Lisa Gail Green on Paranormal Point of View. In this post, Lisa answers an incredible question from Laura Pauling in regards to keeping your MC from being too emo, and let me just say her answer is pure awesomesauce! Sometimes, without realizing it, our MCs can get too whiney and repetitive, and Lisa has provided some great tips in her response! :0)

7) “Write with Authenticity” by Julie Musil. We’ve all heard this before, and it’s as true today as it was when we last heard it, but nonetheless, Julie’s take on this was refreshing, enjoyable and inspiring. The one thing that we as writers have got to remember when we’re writing, is that we absolutely must writer with authenticity. If all else fails, write what’s in your heart. Thank you, Julie, for the awesome reminder!

6) “A Note on Breaking the Rules of Writing” by Charissa Weeks. Yes!!! I know that most of you have read a book – or two or three or a fifty – where the author broke quite a few rules. But like Charissa so clearly states is that those authors knew the rules before they broke them. So, let me ask you: are you an intentional rule-breaker? ;0)

5) “Learning to #EpicFail…with Style” by Kristen Lamb. Though this post may seem to be a bit non-writerly at first, the message Kristen sends to her followers towards the end is absolutely 100% inspiring. Learn to #EpicFail with your writing…it’s the only way to learn and grow in this craft. Write. Fail. Write again. Fail again. Write again and again and again. Fail again, but wait! There will be a moment where you will not fail and you’ll be thankful for all those times you did because those were the stepping stones that brought you to that moment.

4) “Breaking Into Publishing” by Rachelle Gardner. Every aspiring author should read this post and absorb the list of possible obstacles Rachelle’s listed here. The more you know about what may be in your way of publishing success, then the more you can educate yourself and grow so you can kick every one of those obstacles down.

3) “How to Make the Most of a Scene” by Jami Gold, guest post on Girls with Pens. Have I mentioned recently how much I enjoy guidelines? No? Well, I do, and Jami’s guidelines for creating a scene that isn’t just ‘fluff’, but a scene that advances the plot in some way, shape or form. This is yet another post that should be printed, saved and referred to often as your editing and trying to decide if a particular scene is really needed.

2) “Beware of Your Own Voice in Your Head” by Shelli Johnson. I truly don’t think anyone is immune to the inner critic. If you say you are, then I seriously call a foul because we’re all human, therefore we all second guess ourselves. Shelli gives quite a few tips here on how to get that inner voice to shut up so you can continue to do what you love without that inner Snape muttering in your ear.

1) “Write What You Fear” by James Scott Bell, guest post on Donna Galanti’s blog. This post ties into the one above and I honestly couldn’t say enough about James’ post here to do it justice. Every time he writes about the fear of a writer, I get goosebumps because it feels like he’s speaking directly to you. This is yet another bit of writing inspiration for all of us! Enjoy!

And here’s a bit of Friday fun for you:

This is a video mash-up of all the movies 2011 had to offer. It’s a bit long, but quite enjoyable. And I must say, if you can name almost every movie from the short clips in this video, then you are definitely a movie-fanatic…and we need to talk since I can too. 🙂